* The administration has received and acknowledges the sense of the University Senate

Statement Against the Proposed "Photo Identification Required for Voting" Amendment to the Constitution of the State of Minnesota

The Equity, Access, and Diversity
(EAD) Committee of the University Senate of the University of Minnesota,
composed of faculty, staff, and students, strongly opposes the amendment to the
State of Minnesota's constitution titled "Photo Identification Required for
Voting."The question voters will
be posed is:"Shall the
Minnesota Constitution be amended to require all voters to present valid photo
identification to vote and to require the state to provide free identification
to eligible voters, effective July 1, 2013?"[1]

The "Photo Identification Required
for Voting" Amendment would add additional barriers to voting that are not
currently in place and would disproportionately affect certain populations of
the state of Minnesota, including members of the University of Minnesota
student body.The amendment would
limit voters to those who "present valid government-issued photographic
identification" containing their current address.Students keeping their parents' home
address (or other non-school year address) on their Government Issued ID can
only vote at the address listed on their Government Issued IDs, not necessarily
where they are living. In effect, many students will no longer have any say
about local policies that affect them while in college unless they obtain new
Government Issued IDs each time they change residences.At present, UM IDs do not contain
addresses, so they are not a valid form of government identification for voting
purposes.This amendment reflects a
dramatic change from the language currently reflected in the Constitution of
the State of Minnesota.Currently,
our constitution says: "Every person 18 years of age or more who has been a
citizen of the United States for three months and who has resided in the
precinct for 30 days next preceding an election shall be entitled to vote in
that precinct ."This includes our
college students, who can choose to vote where they currently live or at their
permanent address.

The EAD Committee believes that the
approval of this constitutional amendment would directly discriminate against
our students as well as other groups—senior citizens and the economically
disadvantaged. We believe that by limiting opportunities for citizens to vote, the
amendment is neither in the best interest of the University of Minnesota nor
its faculty, staff, or students. We therefore:

1.Encourage all members of the
University community to carefully review the amendment, and, if persuaded by
our arguments (or others), take a stance in opposition to the proposed
constitutional amendment.

2.Encourage all members of the
University community to educate one another and the public on this issue.

3.Urge Minnesota citizens to affirm
the rights of all citizens to vote consistent with the current
constitution—which we believe requires a vote of NO.

[Approved September
25, 2012, by the Equity, Access, and Diversity Committee and October 3, 2012 by
the Social Concerns Committee]